Microbial interactions in the mosquito gut determine Serratia colonization and blood-feeding propensity

Kozlova, Elena V., Hegde, Shivanand, Roundy, Christopher M., Golovko, George, Saldaña, Miguel A., Hart, Charles E., Anderson, Enyia, Hornett, Emily, Khanipov, Kamil, Popov, Vsevolod L., Pimenova, Maria, Zhou, Yiyang, Fovanov, Yuriy, Weaver, Scott C., Routh, Andrew L., Heinz, Eva ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4413-3756 and Hughes, Grant ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7567-7185 (2021) 'Microbial interactions in the mosquito gut determine Serratia colonization and blood-feeding propensity'. The ISME Journal, Vol 15, pp. 93-108.

Preview

Text isme s41396-020-00763-3.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (3MB) | Preview

Abstract

How microbe–microbe interactions dictate microbial complexity in the mosquito gut is unclear. Previously we found that, Serratia, a gut symbiont that alters vector competence and is being considered for vector control, poorly colonized Aedes aegypti yet was abundant in Culex quinquefasciatus reared under identical conditions. To investigate the incompatibility between Serratia and Ae. aegypti, we characterized two distinct strains of Serratia marcescens from Cx. quinquefasciatus and examined their ability to infect Ae. aegypti. Both Serratia strains poorly infected Ae. aegypti, but when microbiome homeostasis was disrupted, the prevalence and titers of Serratia were similar to the infection in its native host. Examination of multiple genetically diverse Ae. aegypti lines found microbial interference to S. marcescens was commonplace, however, one line of Ae. aegypti was susceptible to infection. Microbiome analysis of resistant and susceptible lines indicated an inverse correlation between Enterobacteriaceae bacteria and Serratia, and experimental co-infections in a gnotobiotic system recapitulated the interference phenotype. Furthermore, we observed an effect on host behavior; Serratia exposure to Ae. aegypti disrupted their feeding behavior, and this phenotype was also reliant on interactions with their native microbiota. Our work highlights the complexity of host–microbe interactions and provides evidence that microbial interactions influence mosquito behavior.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	QW Microbiology and Immunology > Bacteria > QW 131 Gram-negative bacteria. QW Microbiology and Immunology > QW 4 General works. Classify here works on microbiology as a whole. QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 510 Mosquitoes
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-020-00763-3
Depositing User:	Stacy Murtagh
Date Deposited:	17 Sep 2020 20:02
Last Modified:	09 Feb 2021 16:03
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/15616

Statistics

View details

Actions (login required)

Edit Item